In the process of manufacturing materials like cardboard book backings for book covers and/or packaging, such as boxes, cartons, and dividers., a slitter is often employed to cut the material, typically cardboard, to the required size. Once the material has been cut or "blanked", it must be either moved directly from the slitter to a subsequent machine or each blank must be palletized for subsequent delivery to another machine.
My invention fully automates the palletizing process of packaging blanks. While stacking the blanks and arranging the stacks in groups is known in the art, it has always been necessary to employ a person to move the stacks from the storage table onto a pallet. My invention eliminates the need for this person during the palletizing process.
A sheet of stock material is cut to a predetermined size or blank by a slitter or slitting machine. The blank is ejected from the slitter onto a fiat belt. The blank runs between an upper roller and the belt onto a second moving means which comprises a series of parallel, equally spaced V-belts. A plurality of stop bars extend upward between the openings or gaps between the V-belts. When each successive blank passes under the roller at the end of the fiat belt and arrives onto the second moving means, it is directed underneath the previous blank. The rear edges of the blanks, which continue to move upward in a stack as more blanks arrive, are kept in alignment by an alignment plate. The alignment plate is positioned a distance equal to the width of each blank with respect to the stop bars.
When a predetermined number of blanks have been stacked between the alignment plate and stop bars, a plurality of lifting forks emerge from between the openings between the V-belts and lift the stack of blanks above and over the plurality of stop bars. The lifting forks retract under the V-belts on the opposite side of the stop bars thereby placing the stack of work pieces back onto equally spaced metal bars.
The stack is transferred by the back of the forks each cycle from the metal bars rearward onto a storage table and unloading table. In the prior art, the stacks of blanks were manually removed from the storage table and manually placed onto a pallet.
My invention fully automates this manual operation. It is an object of my invention to automatically move at least one stack of work pieces or blanks from the storage table onto a pallet. It is a further object to provide a system for moving a plurality of adjacent stacked blanks from the storage table onto a pallet. It is yet a further object to provide the system with a means of placing a plurality of adjacent stacks onto a pallet, one set of adjacent stacks on top of the next. It is a further object to provide a system capable of filling an entire pallet automatically before any manual work is required. It is a further object of my invention to provide a system of palletizing where the slitter does not have to stop. These and other advantages of my invention will become evident in the following descriptions. I know of no prior art which teaches or discloses my invention.